Piece goods extraction apparatus and method

ABSTRACT

Piece goods is extracted with exceptional effectiveness by passing the goods in web form over a transversely related suction slot at which air is delivered on the web from an aligned and oppositely disposed pressure slot at a velocity sufficient to strip moisture from the web.

United States Patent 11 1 Zeiffer 5] Dec. 16, 1975 PIECE GOODS EXTRACTION APPARATUS 3,503,136 3/1970 P16155661 34/15 ND M O 3.541.697 11/1970 Vi1la|obos.. 34/115 3,589,033 6/1971 Bryand 1. 34/240 Inventor: Dleter Zeiffer, a tt C 3.659.348 5/1972 Frank 34/160 [73] Assigneez Gaston County y g Machine 3.735 444 5/1973 Ceceren. 34/242 Company, Mount Holly, NC. 1 Primary E.\'aminer-Carroll B. Dority. Jr. [22] 1973 Assistant Examiner-Larry l. Schwartz 21 App], 3 ,007 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Richards Shefte &

Pinckney [52] US. Cl. 34/16; 34/23; 34/115;

- 34 1 0 [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl. F268 5/04 Piece goods is extracted with exceptional effectiveness [58 Fleld of Search 34/15, 160, 23, 115, 16, by passing the goods in web form Over a transversely 34/155 122 related suction slot at which air is delivered on the web from an aligned and oppositely disposed pressure [56] References cued slot at a velocity sufficient to strip moisture from the UNITED STATES PATENTS web.

2,760,410 8/1956 Gillis 34/16 3,447 247 6/1969 Daane 34/122 8 Clams 1 D'awmg figure US. Patent Dec. 16, 1575 3 925 9 5 PIECE GOODS EXTRACTION APPARATUS AND METHOD CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS None; although copending applications Ser. No. 240,010, filed Mar. 31, l972, now US. Pat. No. 3,755,869 and Ser. No. 334,955, filed Feb. 22, 1973, now US. Pat. No. 3,828,410 disclose and claim honeycomb roll structures such as may be used in practicing the present invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Piece goods extraction is performed to a large extent with honeycomb rolls which characteristically comprise an openwork roll body of tubular form in which a stationary suction chamber is arranged to present a suction slot for drawing moisture out of a piece goods web supported at the roll body surface and caused to travel past the suction slotby roll rotation.

While extraction results heretofore obtained with such arrangements have been attractive, they have also involved disadvantages and difficulties. A principal disadvantage has been the substantial power input required for maintaining an adequate suction influence to produce effective extraction results and, when coupled with the difficulty of applying the suction influence evenly and at full force across the piece goods web in the face of the virtual impossibility of preventing leakage at the web edges, a continuing need has been recognized for improving the performance of such extraction arrangements.

The present invention effects such improvement in a particularly advantageous manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly described, piece goods is extracted according to the present invention by causing a moisture-containing web of such goods, as after washing, to travel over a transversely related suction slot while delivering air under pressure on the web from an oppositely aligned pressure slot. With such an arrangement, air can be readily delivered from the pressure slot at a velocity sufficient to strip contained moisture from the web so that the suction influence need be applied only at a level sufficient to carry off the delivered air along with the moisture stripped thereby. In addition, air leakage at the web edges under these circumstances becomes a matter of indifference, and the coupled pressure and suction influences operate to provide an even and improved extraction effect that represents a much better use of the power input required.

These and other features of the present invention are described in greater detail below in connection with the accompanying drawings.

' DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 4 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The apparatus arrangement diagramed in the drawing employs honeycomb rolls of the previously noted sort because the operating advantages of the present invention were confirmed with such an arrangement, 7

and because it will usually be desirable to practice the invention in the manner diagrammed, although the concept involved is not restricted to the use of honeycomb rolls.

Basically, apparatus for practicing the invention simply requires the combination of means forming a suction slot, means for passing a moisture-containing piece goods web over this suction slot with the slot oriented transversely of and reaching fully across the web width, means forming an aligned pressure slot disposed opposite the suction slot and closely spaced at the other face of a passing piece goods web, means for impressing suction at the suction slot, and means for delivering air under pressure through the pressure slot.

In the diagramed apparatus, the suction slot is formed, as indicated at 10, as part of a stationary suction chamber 12 disposed within and extending lengthwise of an openwork roll body'l4 arranged for rotation. The roll body 14 in turn serves to pass the piece goods web W over the suction slot 10 as it rotates, the rotation being effected by a suitable motor drive as indicated at 16, and the web W being trained for a suitable wrap over the surface of roll body 14 by guide rolls l8 and 18.

In accordance with usual honeycomb roll arrangement, the roll body 14 is proportioned lengthwise in relation to the width of web W being processed and the suction slot 10 reaches fully across the Web width. It will usually be desirable to provide more than one suction slot as at 10 formed on a similarly arranged suction chamber 12 within an openwork roll body 14 in order to increase the degree of extraction effected, as illustrated by the test data set out further below. An additional suction slot might alternatively be provided by forming it at a spaced position on the suction chamber 12 and causing the web W to wrap sufficiently on roll body 14 to pass in operative relation over both slots.

An oppositely aligned pressure slot 20 is provided as an outlet from a manifold 22, and where more than one suction slot is employed each additional suction slot 10 has a pressure slot 20 and manifold 22 arranged thereat. Suction is impressed at the chambers 12-12 and slots 10-10 by a blower or vacuum'pump at 24 having a suction leg 26 which branches at 28 and 28 to draw from the respective chambers 12 and 12', while air is delivered under pressure through the pressure slots 20-20' by a blower 30 feeding manifolds 22-22 at a pressure leg 32 that branches thereto at 34 and 34.

The pressure slots 20 and 20' are arranged to discharge in closely spaced relation at the exposed face of web W as it travels on roll bodies 14-14, and are proportioned in width so that the pressure system delivers air there through, over respective lengths at least coextensive with suction slots 10 and 10', at a velocity sufficiently high for effectively stripping moisture from the web W. In this latter connection, it should be noted that pressure slots 20-20 can be narrowed in width as much as needed for obtaining the desired discharge velocity, but that narrowing of suction slots 10-10 is limited as a practical matter because they operate as the inner diameter of the tubular roll bodies 14-14 and show no increase in effectiveness when narrowed below the openwork spacing in these roll bodies which is a minimum practical limit for structural reasons. Accordingly, in systems employing honeycomb rolls as illustrated the suction slots 10-10 will necessarily be wider than pressure slots 20-20 as a direct consequence of design requirements, while it will normally be desirable that they be wider in any system employing the present invention because, as mentioned earlier, the suction influence need be applied only at a level sufficient to carry off the air delivered from pressure slots 20-20 along with the moisture stripped thereby and wider suction slots 10-10 aid in performing this function.

The extent of improvement in operating results obtainable according to the present invention is illustrated by the test data tabulation which follow. The fabric employed as the test sample consisted of a polyester double knit material having a weight of 8 ounces per square yard. A piece of this material 16 inches wide and about 5 feet long was first wet out thoroughly in a water trough to simulate the condition it would have upon emerging from a wash, and was then extracted in each test series with a honeycomb roll having a nominal 12 /2 inch diameter and 20 inch length in which a suc tion slot 16 inches long was arranged with an oppositely aligned pressure slot 18 inches long, spaced one-sixteenth inches from the roll surface. In the first two test series tabulated a pressure of 3.0 p.s.i.g. was maintained in the pressure slot manifold, and the suction chamber was maintained at 3.2 inches Hg, while in the third test series conducted without pressure application the suction chamber negative pressure was increased to 6.5 inches Hg. The width of pressure and suction slots employed, as well as the air flow through the fabric under the test conditions, is indicated at the head of each test series tabulation. The figures shown in the 2nd Pass columns were obtained after passing the fabric sample a second time over the honeycomb roll employed. The resulting test data tabulations are set out on the two following pages.

Test No. l Pressure & Suction Pressure Slot Width l/l6 Suction Slot Width 1 4" Air Flow Thru Fabric 17.3 SCFM (per inch of fabric width Fabric Moisture Remaining (per inch of fabric width) Fabric Moisture Remaining Speed in Fabric After FPM lst Pass 2nd Pass I20 39 27 I 37 26 8O 32 22 60 27 18 40 21 i2 20 I 6 Test No. 3 Suction Only Suction Slot Width Air Flow Thru Fabric (per inch of fabric width) H 26 SCFM The foregoing data illustrate the remarkable improvement in extraction results possible according to the present invention. Tests No. 1 and No. 2 show that the particular pressure slot width employed is not critical once this slot has been narrowed enough to discharge air at a moisture stripping velocity, while Test No. 3 shows that suction alone, in the face of the narrowing limitations imposed structurally and the edge leakage problems encountered, cannot approach comparable results even when the suction level employed is increased materially.

The particular extraction results obtained will, of course, vary with the particular nature of the fabric being handled, and the dimensional sizing and arrangement of the extraction system employed will need selection and design in relation to the fabric nature, but in any case the extraction will be carried out at material advantage over prior practice by relying on a high velocity air discharge on the fabric in accordance with the present invention.

While the inventive concept presently disclosed has been illustrated and described in terms of moisture extraction in the usual sense'using high velocity air discharge combined with suction to obtain the advantages indicated by actual reduction of this concept to practice for usual extraction purposes, it should also be noted that the demonstrated utility of the disclosed concept can be usefully applied for a variety of other purposes. For example, whenever a fabric web is run through a treating bath and it is desired to have the web emerge at a certain level of treating agent pick-up, instead of employing a pad to regulate the pick-up level as is commonly done, the web can be subjected to an extractive influence in accordance with the present invention to control the pick-up very effectively and with much gentler handling of the fabric. Additionally, if a solvent vapor is substituted for air, the disclosed extraction technique can be used advantageously for degreasing or scouring a fabric web in many situations.

Accordingly, where the claims that follow refer to the piece-goods involved as being moisture-containing it should be understood that any carried substance that is liquid or subject to liquifaction during application of the extractive influence is contemplated, and that the term air is not used as one of limitation, but is recited in a representative sense for which any gas or vapor required or desired under particular circumstances should be recognized as an obvious equivalent. Finally, it should also be mentioned that the open system employing a suction blower or pump 24 and a separate pressure blower 30, as illustrated and described, can quite obviously be arranged alternatively as a closed system using a single blower to supply both the suction and pressure influences and incorporating whatever separating means is required for removing extract from the circulating air or gas or vapor.

This invention has been described in detail above for purposes of illustration only and is not intended to be limited by this description or otherwise to exclude any variation or equivalent form or procedure that would be apparent from, or reasonably suggested by, the foregoing disclosure to the skill of the art.

I claim:

1. Piece goods extraction apparatus comprising means forming a stationary suction slot, traveling reticulate means for passing a moisture-containing piece goods web in spaced relation over said suction slot with the latter oriented transversely of and reaching fully across the web width and having a slot width proportioned for concentrating suction on said web through said traveling reticulate means, means forming an aligned pressure slot disposed opposite said suction slot and closely spaced at the other face of a passing piece goods web, means for impressing stripped moisture recovery suction at said suction slot, and means for delivering air at moisture stripping velocity through said pressure slot, said first and second mentioned means comprising, respectively, a stationary suction chamber and a surrounding openwork roll body of tubular form arranged for rotation, and said suction chamber presenting said suction slot in relation to the inner face of a piece goods web supported at the roll body surface and passed over said slot by roll rotation.

2. Piece goods extraction apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein more than one suction slot and oppositely disposed pressure slot is provided for spaced operation in relation to a passing web.

3. Piece goods extraction apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said pressure slot is proportioned in width for allowing operation of said last mentioned means so that air delivered thereby through said slot is 6 caused to have a velocity sufficiently high for effectively stripping moisture from said web.

4. Piece goods extraction apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein said suction slot is wider than said pressure slot.

5. Piece goods extraction apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein said suction impressing means is provided with operating capability of an order sufficient for carrying off said delivered air together with moisture stripped thereby.

6. The method of extracting moisture from a piece goods web which comprises causing said web to travel in spaced relation over a transversely related suction slot proportioned in width for concentrating suction on said web while delivering air under pressure on said web from an oppositely aligned and closely spaced pressure slot at a velocity sufficient to strip contained moisture from the web, said web being caused to travel while supported at the surface of an openwork roll body of tubular form that is arranged for rotation, and said suction slot being associated with a stationary suction chamber disposed within'said roll body and presenting said suction slot in relation to the inner face of a piece goods web supported at the roll body surface and passed over said slot by roll rotation.

7. The method of extracting moisture from a piece goods web as defined in claim 6 wherein suction is impressed at said suction slot at a level sufficient for carrying off said delivered air together with moisture stripped thereby.

8. The method of extracting moisture from a piece goods web as defined in claim 6 wherein said web is caused to travel over more than one suction slot at which air is delivered under pressure from an oppositely aligned pressure slot. 

1. Piece goods extraction apparatus comprising means forming a stationary suction slot, traveling reticulate means for passing a moisture-containing piece goods web in spaced relation over said suction slot with the latter oriented transversely of and reaching fully across the web width and having a slot width proportioned for concentrating suction on said web through said traveling reticulate means, means forming an aligned pressure slot disposed opposite said suction slot and closely spaced at the other face of a passing piece goods web, means for impressing stripped moisture recovery suction at said suction slot, and means for delivering air at moisture stripping velocity through said pressure slot, said first and second mentioned means comprising, respectively, a stationary suction chamber and a surrounding openwork roll body of tubular form arranged for rotation, and said suction chamber presenting said suction slot in relation to the inner face of a piece goods web supported at the roll body surface and passed over said slot by roll rotation.
 2. Piece goods extraction apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein more than one suction slot and oppositely disposed pressure slot is provided for spaced operation in relation to a passing web.
 3. Piece goods extraction apparatus as defined in claim 1 wherein said pressure slot is proportioned in width for allowing operation of said last mentioned means so that air delivered thereby through said slot is caused to have a velocity sufficiently high for effectively stripping moisture from said web.
 4. Piece goods extraction apparatus as defined in claim 3 wherein said suction slot is wider than said pressure slot.
 5. Piece goods extraction apparatus as defined in claim 4 wherein said suction impressing means is provided with operAting capability of an order sufficient for carrying off said delivered air together with moisture stripped thereby.
 6. The method of extracting moisture from a piece goods web which comprises causing said web to travel in spaced relation over a transversely related suction slot proportioned in width for concentrating suction on said web while delivering air under pressure on said web from an oppositely aligned and closely spaced pressure slot at a velocity sufficient to strip contained moisture from the web, said web being caused to travel while supported at the surface of an openwork roll body of tubular form that is arranged for rotation, and said suction slot being associated with a stationary suction chamber disposed within said roll body and presenting said suction slot in relation to the inner face of a piece goods web supported at the roll body surface and passed over said slot by roll rotation.
 7. The method of extracting moisture from a piece goods web as defined in claim 6 wherein suction is impressed at said suction slot at a level sufficient for carrying off said delivered air together with moisture stripped thereby.
 8. The method of extracting moisture from a piece goods web as defined in claim 6 wherein said web is caused to travel over more than one suction slot at which air is delivered under pressure from an oppositely aligned pressure slot. 